Current Leadership
- Christopher K. Glass
- Allen Wang
- Quan Zhu
- Nathan Zemke
- Agnieszka D'Antonio-Chronowska
- Tiffany Fox
The University of California San Diego School of Medicine is pleased to announce the appointment of Distinguished Professor Christopher K. Glass, M.D., Ph.D., as the new director of the Center for Epigenomics (C4E), a multidisciplinary hub advancing transformative research into the chemical modifications of DNA and chromatin, as well as their roles in human health and disease.
Glass, an alumnus of the School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program and clinically trained in internal medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is a globally recognized leader in molecular biology and epigenomics. With a career spanning more than three decades in the Departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, he has made foundational contributions to our understanding of how macrophages are transcriptionally programmed in different tissue environments. Glass has published more than 300 research articles and has earned more than 165,000 citations, giving him an h‑index of 184, one of the highest in the field. Glass is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Sciences, reflecting the breadth, impact and translational potential of his work.
Glass’ lab is known for pioneering studies in macrophage enhancer biology – deciphering how environmental cues sculpt the regulatory DNA landscape to drive cell identity and immune function. In a representative landmark study performed in collaboration with the Center for Epigenomics and published in Science, his team showed that non-coding DNA variants associated with risk of Alzheimer’s Disease were preferentially localized to microglia-specific enhancers. These findings, now confirmed by many other laboratories, support important roles of microglia in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease. Current work being performed by his lab in collaboration with the center is leveraging MERFISH (Multiplexed Error-Robust Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization), combined with custom spatial genomic pipelines and single cell epigenomics assays to understand how microglia communicate with other brain cell types in health and neurodegenerative diseases.
“Epigenomics gives us the keys to understanding why cells behave differently in health versus disease, even when their DNA is identical,” said Glass. “At C4E, we will apply cutting-edge single-cell and spatial epigenomic platforms to address some of the most pressing challenges in neurodegeneration, cancer, and inflammatory disease.”
Under his leadership, C4E will continue to advance three complementary technological platforms: • High‑throughput epigenomics for large‑scale profiling across hundreds of samples per day. • Single‑cell epigenomics uncovering regulatory variation at cellular resolution in human and mouse tissues. • Spatial and functional genomics, integrating MERFISH, chromatin tracing, and imaging to map gene regulation in situ.
These efforts aim to support collaborative projects with more than 65 investigators across campus and beyond, bolstered by a strong publication record that spans high-impact journals including Science, Cell and Nature.
“Under Chris’s direction, the center is exceptionally well positioned to unlock how chromatin architecture shapes gene regulation across cell types and tissues,” said Tariq Rana, Ph.D., distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. “His visionary leadership will inspire new discoveries and collaborations across neuroscience, cancer and biomedical engineering.”
Glass joins C4E with a proven track record in mentoring, having trained students and postdoctoral fellows who now hold faculty and industry positions. He also brings with him a lifetime of contributions to understanding macrophage biology, enhancer logic, and tissue-restricted gene regulation.
Glass’s leadership marks a new chapter for C4E: one focused on translating fundamental insights into precision diagnostics and targeted therapies, and cementing UC San Diego’s role as a national leader in functional and spatial epigenomics.